


warnings, unheard

by Lovelylime



Category: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë
Genre: Gen, i liked this book, its 2020 and im writing fic for a bronte novel, listen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25740178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovelylime/pseuds/Lovelylime
Summary: It’s truly a terrible thing, watching one's warnings go unheeded. From the first day little Helen entered her life, nervous and small but with an unshakeable self-assuredness, all Margaret wanted was for her to thrive; to love and be loved as all people deserve. She knew what life was like as a woman in this world: your only hope is to marry well. Thus, she tried to instill in Helen from an early age a discerning eye, an ability to judge another before risking your livelihood upon them.All for naught.
Relationships: Helen Graham & Margaret Maxwell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	warnings, unheard

**Author's Note:**

> i read tenant of wildfell hall and Vibed with it, i wanted to do something with the aunt's perspective.

It’s truly a terrible thing, watching one's warnings go unheeded. From the first day little Helen entered her life, nervous and small but with an unshakeable self-assuredness, all Margaret wanted was for her to thrive; to love and be loved as all people deserve. She knew what life was like as a woman in this world: your only hope is to marry well. Thus, she tried to instill in Helen from an early age a discerning eye, an ability to judge another before risking your livelihood upon them. 

Helen responded to such lessons with all the dignity and piety Margaret had come to expect from her, but as the girl grew older, she still drifted towards crowds that could only do her harm. 

From the first time she laid eyes upon him and his cohort, Margaret knew she hated Arthur Huntingdon. Crass, shameless, and thoroughly indulgent, he cared as little for himself as he did for those around him. He would--and frequently did--throw away his health and reputation for a single night of excess, but somehow yet was still held in high enough standing to be invited into her home again and again. And each time, he circled nearer and nearer to Helen, sweet and sober Helen, unaware that she was being sized up by a wolf. 

So again, Margaret went to her niece, implored her to see Huntingdon’s flaws for what they were, rather than solvable mistakes. Watching her Helen marry that man, be drawn into his world of sin and cruelty, would be too terrible to bear. But that’s what came to pass. When she saw their embrace from that doorway, she knew she had lost. 

And so Helen Huntingdon left her life, and Margaret could only pray that her fears were just the rambling of a paranoid old woman, and not the founded suspicions they felt like. She devoured Helen’s first few letters, searching for anything to disprove her belief of Huntingdon’s character. But as the months passed, and the letters drew shorter and vaguer, her despair grew and grew. 

Helen stopped telling her aunt about her life, because it could only be horrible. Fewer and fewer details of her husband’s exploits, because they were abhorrent to decent society. The years dragged on, and Helen grew only further away, trapped with a man Margaret failed to save her from. 

She tried to absolve the guilt weighing heavy on her soul by reasoning that she had done all she could have, and if Helen chose to ignore her advice, it was her price to pay. Yet still, when she was kept up at night, it was from worry over the fate her little Helen had resigned herself to. For Helen never complained, not once, about her husband or her life, choosing instead to bear it all in silence; a picture of a martyr. 

And so the years pass, and Margaret’s grand-nephew is raised in the home of a man who could be no worse of an example, and a woman who could be no better. Helen loves him wholeheartedly, and Margaret wishes to as well, but knows deep down that she won't fully be able to, until she learns just how much he takes after his father. 

The letter is indistinct when it arrives. She never would have guessed that it contained the happiest news she’s received in her life. 

It’s brief, even vaguer than anything Helen’s written prior, but it’s message is clear: she’s leaving Grassdale Manor, and its master. She wouldn’t specify, but she said she had a safe house waiting for her and her son, where she would be heading for promptly. Even with such little information, not even including the whereabouts of her niece, Margaret was overjoyed. Simply knowing Helen was free from Huntingdon was enough to calm her nerves. 

There was no direct correspondence from Helen over the next few months. Margaret received updates on her wellbeing from Helen’s brother, Frederick, and her only source of worry was that her niece would be found out by her husband, and lose her freedom or her son. But God-willing, that never happened. 

Instead, Helen returned to him willingly, first to nurse him back to health, and then to be by his side on his deathbed. It was painful to hear of her return, but it also instilled in Margaret a deep sense of pride at having raised such a kind and virtuous niece. Helen came to Staningley afterward, and her aunt was more than willing to help her with her grief. 

(‘Aren’t you going to say, “I told you so?”’ Helen asked of her one night. 

Margaret only pulled her close and said, ‘This was a lesson I prayed you wouldn’t have to learn. I’m not vindicated in the least that you learned it the hard way.’) 

And when Margaret watched her husband fade, her niece was beside her, united in grief, helping to shoulder the burden of loss. Life continued on, even when it felt like it wouldn’t, and slowly the joy of her niece and grand-nephew overtook her days. Little Arthur was blissfully nothing like his father, a dream of a boy to look over. His mother was still much the same. 

And so life went, until the day when there was a man waiting for them on the doorstep, a man who would bring their family more happiness than they thought was possible in this world of flesh. 

Now, Margaret can rest, knowing that despite the warnings that went unheard, and the suffering of the past, her dearest Helen is loved and loving, just as she deserves.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u love u <3


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